Welcome - To the World Record Row blog

Current Location – South Atlantic

28612 km rowed… 11463 km remaining

Well it’s been a long drop from Alaska but at last we’ve hit the most southerly point of the virtual route – all north from here on in! It will take a bit of time to cross the Atlantic but once we land in Liberia on the west coast of Africa, we’re just 7,000km and 5 months row from Blighty – it will feel like I’ve never left Basingstoke… though I suppose I technically never have … stop laughing!!! x

This rowing post is dedicated to the brilliance of a young man called Stuart Dimond  – if you were lovely enough to catch up on the last blog, Stu organised a gig at The Red Lion Hotel to raise money for Breakthrough earlier in the month featuring some of the brightest up and coming musicians this fine town has to offer. The ability to collect money throughout this challenge has been utterly dependent on the kindness of wonderful people donating money and time and raising the profile of the charity – the Craig Killicks, Jacqui Sanwells and Simon Rayners of this world. I’m very proud to add Stu to this list- he’s symbolic of all that is brilliant and talented in the young chaps and chapesses in this town and while we’ve got young men like him coming up through the ranks I believe Basingstoke is in a very good place. An excellent town chock full of excellent people x

The guys raised a fantastic £256 from their first charity gig for Breakthrough in January (the single biggest donation of the row so far) – I was so hopeful that they could match it with their second. Stu confidently suggested that they could double it the week before – a sell out night the following Friday and a whopping £568 raised tells me that if I ask him for the moon on a stick for my birthday he’ll be able to do it. It means that the two gigs have raised an incredible £824 – they guys are hoping to organise another at some point during the year, Basingstock here we come!

I arrived at The Red Lion Hotel at 7.20pm (ten minutes before the start of the gig), plenty of time I thought to grab a quick drink. I met up with Fay (Stuart’s mum) at the bar, amazed at how many people were in the cafe area waiting to get in.

‘Nope, these are the people who can’t get in – the room’s at capacity already!’ she smiled.

I couldn’t believe it – mind you I suppose it shouldn’t really have surprised me. There were 8 bands playing during the night, each one disgustingly talented and with a very, very big following. Thankfully we were able to sneak in at the back just as Goodnight Siren were warming up and the whole evening was just brilliant. The strangest and loveliest feeling for me was to be able to give someone a hug standing up without hanging on to a rowing chain – I don’t think many of the guys had seen me standing up before, Toby said he always thought I’d be taller than I actually was… I cried a little inside.

I tried head banging at one point but felt quite lightheaded after a few seconds and nearly took out the stage left speaker – I retired to the back of the room to chat with a few of the guys before coming on stage with Stu’s band Eyes Wide Closed as they performed ‘Cancer’, a real heartbreaker that they wrote especially for the gig (I think it’s just become the anthem for the row). I spent most of the song with my arm round Stu which was great for me but rather awkward for him as he ended up playing the guitar one-handed. I felt like a rock star being up with the chaps on stage – even though I have no musical talent and also had second thoughts about throwing a telly through the window due to health and safety regulations. Realising I am completely not rock n’ roll I left it to the pros – and how fantastic they all were. A hugh thank you to Goodnight Siren, The 4:20, David Gunner, Eyes Wide Closed, Kobra, Bless The Hour, The Forgotten Martyr and Blood Of The Spectre – for all their brilliance and for a great night. I should also say how terrific The Red Lion Hotel were for allowing the evening to happen and for all their time and patience – apparently they’ve got a delicious menu in their restaurant…

So without further ado – it’s piccie time!!

A busy night at The Red Lion!

The lovely Caroline, lead singer of Goodnight Siren.

Our hero in action!

Damn he has great hair!

Liam of Eyes Wide Closed clearly being cheeky.

A proper stand up cuddle with Fay and Harry.

Thank you to Cameron for taking all the brilliant shots.

I’ll pop the link up to the Gazette article on the night in the next blog – have a wonderful Easter x

Current Location – Braganca, Brazil

27896 km rowed… 12179 km remaining

Never in my life have I been more desperate for the arrival of spring! After ripping a gaping hole in my long johns last week I’ve just about had enough of violent head winds up my trouser legs… cursing the weather and clenching my fist at the sky just seems to make it worse, Basingstoke weather has just got it in for all of us! Although February is a shorter month, we’re still making very steady progress towards the South Atlantic and we’re just a few days away from getting our virtual toes virtually wet in a big virtual ocean… in a sort of virtual kind of way. The pennies are still coming and we’re now just over £12,000 raised for Breakthrough, that’s 32% of our target which is wonderful – I’ve always been of the thought that even we only raise another penny for the rest of the challenge then it’s a penny more towards the fight but I so hope we can raise an absolute bomb. The lovely people of Basingstoke have given again and again, not only with donations but also support in the form of cuddles, fig rolls, woolly scarves and a green fluffy penguin from a man called Bernard. It’s time to get some corporate cash to back up all that good will and I’m keeping everything crossed we can get it – we’ve got a great team in place to move us in the right direction.

Over the last few months it’s been an absolute joy (despite the buttock burning agony!) to row with James and my brother Jonathan on a few occassions and set a couple of world records along the way – the next one up is an attempt with my good friend Ollie Trinder to have a crack at the longest continual tandem world record on 8th May at the Reading Hilton. The record currently stands at 72 hours and 17 minutes and we’re going to try and raise the bar to 100 hours if we possibly can – heavens knows why, I just think Ollie’s mean – he’s a fitness instructor and the right side of 25 with biceps the size of Bournemouth so I hardly think it’s fair I have to row with him… well, he’s not really mean, he’s actually a really lovely guy but I still think he’s cruel… in a lovely way. The plan is to begin at 10am on the Saturday, rowing in 2 hour shifts (swapping to four hours at night) and finishing at 2pm on Wednesday 12th – Ollie is as strong as an ox so I hope I won’t let him down. I’ll pop up more details in the next blog.

Also coming up is the next gig at Basingstoke’s Red Lion Hotel, organised by Stu for Friday 5th March and starting at 7.30pm – if you fancy a fantastic night watching some very talented young chaps belt out their hits then it’s well worth popping down early as the last bash was a sell out and they’d hate for you to be disappointed. If moshing is your thing, you’ll have a riot… if you’re a coward like me and prefer clapping at the back, then please join me for a cuddle, buttock discussions and hilarious fig roll anecdotes. I’ll pop up all the photos from the night in the next entry x

Thank you again guys for all your support – I know I keep saying it but it really does mean the world to me. A huge thank you also to Jae, Kirstin and Auntie Heather for all donating through our justgiving page - we’re now just shy of £2,000 raised online which is brilliant.

 Happy almost Spring and may your days be ever long john free! (at least until October) x